WRTI Picks from NPR Music

The jazz artist suffered from a condition that rendered his bones brittle and his stature three feet tall. But in the '80s and '90s, he still lived a full — if brief — life at the top of the international touring circuit, as captured in a new documentary.

Over the centuries, the durable music of J.S. Bach has withstood almost every type of makeover — sounding unscathed on anything from a banjo to a Japanese shamisen. Violinist Gidon Kremer's new album features fresh arrangements of the master's music and new works by 11 contemporary composers.

Known for his lushly lyrical scores and a fierce opposition to the Nazism that shadowed his childhood, this major German composer died Saturday in Dresden at age 86. Watch an excerpt from his children's opera Pollicino and learn more about his wide-ranging artistic legacy.

Many folks would call Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor the ultimate piece of scary music. With that in mind, we've dug around YouTube for five frightfully wild versions, from a hauntingly eerie version for glass harmonica to creepy goings-on on a toy piano.

This week's news features the making of ELEW, another "jazz is dead" debate, and Chicago music history from long ago and the present day alike. Plus, Ron Carter on bass evolution, Phil Schaap on economics, a new Wayne Shorter album and Miles Davis for Japanese liquor.

From twin Minnesota lockouts to plans for a "pop-up" NY Phil, here's your guide to all the current must-reads, watches and listens. Plus: rumors of the Met's next season, a smashed cello in Germany and a gourmand-themed World Series bet between two of America's top orchestras.

He wasn't a mainstream jazz musician, but the power of his vision for free improvisation won him acclaim from both the jazz community and beyond. The leader of a long-running quartet and a sideman to greats like Cecil Taylor, he was 62 when he died of complications from kidney disease.

Another week of peaks and valleys — Indianapolis returns its symphony to the stage, a Cuban ensemble is visiting Pennsylvania and Seattle threatens to strike. Meanwhile, Philly Orchestra players offer to replace a child's missing trombone. It's all the classical music news that's fit to link.

Hear the celebrated Bach interpreter play the tranquil Partita No. 1 in the NPR studio. Dinnerstein — who burst onto the scene with a popular recording of the Goldberg Variations — phrases her Bach lovingly, taking great care to find the subtle gestures and and ideas in and around the notes.

Yamanaka is big in Japan — of course, it helps that that's where the jazz pianist was born and grew up. Recently, her imaginative virtuosity has begun to translate to stateside jazz success.